X-ray examinations are often a first step in the treatment of persons or animals that have undergone trauma that possibly has resulted in one or more broken or displaced bones. It is well known to those in the medical profession that an emergency room patient is often moved to an x-ray table for such an examination, after which the patient is then again moved from the table to another location for the next step of diagnosis or treatment. Even if the patient is not transferred from table to table, the patient must often be turned, or otherwise moved, to permit an x-ray plate to be positioned at the right location for the x-ray to be taken. When the x-ray plate must be placed beneath the patient for examination, this requires lifting of the patient, or at least a portion of the patient. Such movement of a patient can be painful, harmful or even fatal.
Various prior art devices have attempted to meet the need for an x-ray table that allows for placement of an x-ray plate at any location beneath a patient without the need for moving the patient. Some of these devices comprise an upper frame holding a rigid translucent panel and a lower frame separated from the upper frame by channels or slots that allow for insertion and removal of the x-ray plate. In most instances, the two frames are separated by a plurality of fixed supports that determine where the x-ray plate can be positioned for picture taking. If these locations do not coincide with the precise area of the patient that requires the x-ray, some manipulation of the patient's body may be found to be necessary. Attendant with this is the possibility of further injury to the patient as previously noted.